On May 28, 2015 myself and another Catholic Worker from St. Joe’s House of Hospitality and a Dorothy Day House resident, did a sweep for homeless sleeping outside in Rochester. We left St. Joe’s at 11:00 PM and drove down Clinton Ave, made a left on Central and came up St. Paul’s back to St. Joe’s. We drove a total of 2.8 miles and covered a limited area of downtown Rochester. In that small stretch we found 24 people sleeping outside.
Here are some of the results from that night:
- In total, 24 people were found sleeping outside
- Of the 24 found, 10 had spent the winter at Sanctuary Village shelter or St. Joe’s emergency shelter
- Two people had no tent or shelter. One of them didn’t have a sleeping bag
- Two different locations had three people camping together and another had two people together
- Sixteen people were sleeping alone and were well hidden
- One person was sleeping in a Porta-Potty
- One person was found in the garden of St. Mary’s Catholic Church
- Three people were originally from surrounding areas (Irondequoit, Palmyra and Honeoye Falls) Many refused to answer this question though.
- Four others we know to be homeless and sleeping outdoors were not found this night. This would bring the total to 28 people.
Twenty-four people sleeping outdoors may not seem like a large number, however, considering the small area covered in the sweep and the fact we didn’t enter areas of the city known to have high levels of concentrated poverty, this is a very disturbing number. While other cities are finding creative ways to alleviating homelessness with Housing First programs, Rochester’s homeless are sleeping on benches at Catholic Church gardens and in potable toilets. 
There are some other companies which may hamper your health just for the sake of earning money. 